The practice of addressing people exactly as they address me came about spontaneously from the first column in 2003. If someone wrote "Hi Mick," I knew I couldn't formalize that into "Dear Mr. LaSalle," but that also meant that I couldn't address the person as "Mr." or "Ms." without sounding like a stiff. And if the person addressed me in a formal way, I didn't want to assume a familiarity that wasn't there.

Curiously, people often comment on this - always positively. And some have used it to clever advantage. By calling me all-seeing and all-knowing, they guarantee that they will be called the same and that their omniscience will be made manifest to a wide reading public. Interestingly, though just as many women write to me as men, it seems that only guys see this for the grand opportunity it truly is.